Baronne de Rothschild
Encyclopedia
Baronne de Rothschild is a 1848 oil and canvas portrait by the French Neoclassical
artist Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
. The sitter, Betty de Rothschild (1805-1886) had married banker James Mayer de Rothschild
and was one of the wealthiest women in northern Europe, and one of the foremost Parisian patrons of the arts. Her beauty and elegance were widely known and celebrated, and inspired Heinrich Heine
's poem The Angel. For her portrait, Ingres sought to infuse symbols of her material wealth with the dignity, grace and beauty of Renaissance art, especially that of Raphael
, while at the same time adhering to the command of line as practiced by Jan van Eyck
. It is this combination which, according to art historians, places Ingres' so far apart from his early modernist
contemporaries.
Betty de Rothschild's portrait is regarded as one of Ingres' most accomplished works, and has been described as "perhaps the most sumptuous yet approachable image of mid-nineteenth-century opulence."
which he believed was a higher form of art, while his living lay in commissions for the nobility. At this point he was financially comfortable and refused. Two years later, after meeting her at a ball finding her highly charming, he agreed to the commission. Yet the final work was not complete for another four years, after many abandoned studies, false starts and breaks while he took time to work on other portraits -including his portrait of the late Ferdinand Philippe Henri the Duc d'Orlean who was killed in a carriage accident in 1842.
Rothschild wears a pink satin evening dress with rows of rutching at the hem and lace frills at the collar and sleeves, trimmed with ribbon bows. Her hair is smoothed over her ears and decorated with ostrich plumes. She is seated on a red velvet sofa, with her arms and legs crossed in a relaxed manner. Ingres has captured her in this painting as if she were attending a soirée with friends.
She is positioned unusually low in the pictorial plane, giving her a vulnerability at odds with the obvious stature offered by the heraldic inscription and coat of arms at the top right. The portrait is dominated two main elements: her wine-red satin robe and the charm of her facial expression and perfectly oval, almost idealised, face. While she looks out at the viewer with almost the same directness as Ingres' 1832 Portrait of monsieur Bertin
, the image is softened by the attractiveness of both her pose and dress.
This warmth is contrasted by the sober and dull brown upper background, which serves to off-set the splendor of the sitter. Many critic have noted Ingres' unusual use of light in this work; the shadows on her dress are rendered flatter than the lit areas of cloth, yet paradoxically lie just above them on the surface of the canvas. Typically, Ingres has departed from anatomically correct representation of the visible parts of her body, which appear almost boneless and unusually bent and curved.
The portrait was hung in Betty's salon until her death in 1886.
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
artist Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres was a French Neoclassical painter. Although he considered himself to be a painter of history in the tradition of Nicolas Poussin and Jacques-Louis David, by the end of his life it was Ingres's portraits, both painted and drawn, that were recognized as his greatest...
. The sitter, Betty de Rothschild (1805-1886) had married banker James Mayer de Rothschild
James Mayer de Rothschild
James Mayer de Rothschild was a French banker and the original founder of the French branch of the Rothschild family.-Biography:...
and was one of the wealthiest women in northern Europe, and one of the foremost Parisian patrons of the arts. Her beauty and elegance were widely known and celebrated, and inspired Heinrich Heine
Heinrich Heine
Christian Johann Heinrich Heine was one of the most significant German poets of the 19th century. He was also a journalist, essayist, and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of Lieder by composers such as Robert Schumann...
's poem The Angel. For her portrait, Ingres sought to infuse symbols of her material wealth with the dignity, grace and beauty of Renaissance art, especially that of Raphael
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino , better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur...
, while at the same time adhering to the command of line as practiced by Jan van Eyck
Jan van Eyck
Jan van Eyck was a Flemish painter active in Bruges and considered one of the best Northern European painters of the 15th century....
. It is this combination which, according to art historians, places Ingres' so far apart from his early modernist
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
contemporaries.
Betty de Rothschild's portrait is regarded as one of Ingres' most accomplished works, and has been described as "perhaps the most sumptuous yet approachable image of mid-nineteenth-century opulence."
Background
She first asked Ingres to paint her in 1841 when he was much sought after as a reluctant portraitist. His ambition lay in history paintingHistory painting
History painting is a genre in painting defined by subject matter rather than an artistic style, depicting a moment in a narrative story, rather than a static subject such as a portrait...
which he believed was a higher form of art, while his living lay in commissions for the nobility. At this point he was financially comfortable and refused. Two years later, after meeting her at a ball finding her highly charming, he agreed to the commission. Yet the final work was not complete for another four years, after many abandoned studies, false starts and breaks while he took time to work on other portraits -including his portrait of the late Ferdinand Philippe Henri the Duc d'Orlean who was killed in a carriage accident in 1842.
Description
She is positioned unusually low in the pictorial plane, giving her a vulnerability at odds with the obvious stature offered by the heraldic inscription and coat of arms at the top right. The portrait is dominated two main elements: her wine-red satin robe and the charm of her facial expression and perfectly oval, almost idealised, face. While she looks out at the viewer with almost the same directness as Ingres' 1832 Portrait of monsieur Bertin
Portrait of monsieur Bertin
Portrait of Monsieur Bertin is an 1832 oil-on-canvas portrait by the French painter Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, housed in the Musée du Louvre since 1897. It depicts Louis-François Bertin, a writer, art collector, press magnate as director of the pro-royalist Journal des débats, and friend and...
, the image is softened by the attractiveness of both her pose and dress.
This warmth is contrasted by the sober and dull brown upper background, which serves to off-set the splendor of the sitter. Many critic have noted Ingres' unusual use of light in this work; the shadows on her dress are rendered flatter than the lit areas of cloth, yet paradoxically lie just above them on the surface of the canvas. Typically, Ingres has departed from anatomically correct representation of the visible parts of her body, which appear almost boneless and unusually bent and curved.
The portrait was hung in Betty's salon until her death in 1886.